By GRACE GITTELL ’20
SENIOR CLASS REPRESENTATIVE
Colorado College Student Government Association, the only democratically elected student body organization at CC, strives to give a voice to each student in order to make tangible change campus-wide. In order to accomplish our mission, CCSGA publishes this weekly column regarding various projects we are working on so the student body knows what their elected officials are up to. This is of the utmost importance to us because the actions of CCSGA are intended to be on behalf of the entire student body.
Rather than expounding on the upcoming events and projects that CCSGA is working on in this article, I want to explain one of the major goals that I share with my fellow committee-members on the Student Life Committee for the upcoming year: increasing student engagement. Student engagement can be defined in a multitude of different ways, but for CCSGA, the two defining forms of student involvement are voting and running for office.
In evaluating engagement in these two ways, student engagement in CCSGA has been lower than any of us on CCSGA want. Voter turnout in last year’s CCSGA executive board and student trustee elections, although the best that CCSGA has seen in years, was only 48.8%. Many students who ran for vice presidents of committees or class representatives were faced with uncontested races. Our mission in increasing student involvement this year is to hold more events to inform students of the work that CCSGA is doing.
The CC student body is filled with passionate people who have opinions and want to see changes happen within the college, but by declining to vote or run for office, those changes are more difficult to achieve. As a senior class representative, I want to represent the student body as accurately as possible and make decisions that will make your time at CC even better.
It isn’t just during election season that students are able to voice their opinions. Student representativws are always available to hear your concerns — student engagement is an ongoing process.
Vote and even consider running for office in the upcoming elections. First-year elections take place during Block 2, andwhile upperclassmen representative elections are in Block 3.
Please reach out to me at g_gittell@coloradocollege.edu or anyone else on student government if you have any concerns, questions, or are interested in getting involved in CCSGA.